GP-Impact: Freshman Year to Geoscience Career

GSTDTAP

项目编号	1540730
	GP-Impact: Freshman Year to Geoscience Career
	Allan Ludman
主持机构	CUNY Queens College
项目开始年	2015
	2015-09-01
项目结束日期	2018-08-31
资助机构	US-NSF
项目类别	Standard Grant
项目经费	371056(USD)
国家	美国
语种	英语
英文摘要	The "Freshman Year To Geoscience Career" project addresses the important national goal of recruiting, retaining, and preparing the next generation workforce in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines, with specific focus on increasing diversity in the geosciences. Today, nearly 45% of all college students begin their undergraduate education at a community college; for underrepresented minority (URM) college students, the community college starting point is even larger (54%). These students are often underrepresented in the geosciences, underprepared academically, and burdened by unique obstacles due to socioeconomic status and family responsibilities. Few are aware of geoscience as a possible career. If these students transfer successfully into a bachelor's degree program, they are often delayed in completion of their degrees because of inadequate math preparation and missing prerequisites, as well as the common necessity of working 20-40 hours/week to support themselves and their families. Many drop out of the pipeline, either because they are unable to complete the rigorous degree requirements or because they feel isolated and a sense of "not belonging." Even if they complete their degrees, many of these students are first in their families to go to college and have little idea of how and when to plan for what follows graduation. To address these obstacles, this project is creating a seamless, supportive path from the time a student chooses a college major to when s/he enters graduate school or employment as a geoscientist. This multi-campus partnership between Queens College, a 4-year college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system, and LaGuardia and Queensborough Community Colleges guarantees help for students from unusually diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds, regardless of where they first enter the education pipeline. Innovative strategies in this effort address transitions at four key points at which students make or confirm the decision to pursue a career in Geology or Environmental Science, or to drop out of the STEM pipeline: 1) Starting a geoscience career path at a community college; 2) Transfer from a 2-year to 4-year college; 3) Completing a rigorous geoscience major; and 4) Transition to graduate school or geoscience employment. Through customized workshops and outreach at the community colleges, students are building the skills needed for a science career and being provided with information about career options and salaries in the geosciences. Coordinated multi-campus recruiting and advising by peers and faculty from all three campuses are helping students make strategic coursework choices that better articulate with the degree requirements at the 4-year institution. A unique geoscience learning community spanning all three campuses is helping to make the transition from 2-year to 4-year seamless. New majors have an opportunity to mingle with advanced students and faculty from the Queens College campuses before and throughout the academic year at academic (colloquia, field trips) and social events. By the time they transfer from their community college, students know the Queens faculty and the best path to degree completion. Modest stipends are being provided that make possible a geoscience service-learning culture for superior students, saving travel to and from off-campus jobs unrelated to their career goals. Stipend recipients serve as teaching aides and tutors in introductory courses, helping others understand basic concepts while deepening their own understanding. Some tutees will become the next generation of geoscience majors and tutors. Because calculus is known nationally as one of the major obstacles to completing a geoscience degree, free tutoring is being provided by Time 2000, a Queens College initiative that trains students to become high school math teachers. To better prepare students for their lives after graduation, the project is offering a series of workshops, starting in the freshman year, that help individuals choose job or graduate school; write resumes, personal statements, and application letters; and learn interview skills. The principal intellectual merit of this project is to test two innovative models for improving student engagement, academic performance, and retention: 1) a unique discipline-specific learning community spanning three urban campuses - two Associates (community college) and one Bachelor's-Master's college, and 2) a service-learning approach to engaging students that removes or lessens the need of financially challenged geoscience majors to work off-campus at jobs unrelated to their professional goals. Although the "Freshman Year to Geoscience Career" project is designed specifically to increase the number and diversity of geoscience students at the participating CUNY system campuses, the problems it addresses are endemic and the solutions it offers can serve as a model across all academic institutions and disciplines.
来源学科分类	Geosciences - Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research
文献类型	项目
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/68706
专题	环境与发展全球科技态势
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Allan Ludman.GP-Impact: Freshman Year to Geoscience Career.2015.